Wii U launch

Well, the Wii U has an official launch date: November 18th. After rumor, waiting, and speculations galore we finally know when the Wii U will be released. There will be two models, a $299.99 Basic Set, which includes 8 Gigabytes of internal storage, a white Wii U Gamepad (which i assume will be nicknamed uPad), white Wii U system, AC adapters for the Wii U and uPad, a High-Speed HDMI cable (the Wii U is capable of rendering 1080p HD) and a sensor bar. Hopefully we can use our Wii cables on the Wii U so  that those of us without HDMI connections can play it without needing a new TV or cables. The Nintendo Wii U 32 Gigabyte Deluxe Set includes an extra 24 Gigabytes of internal memory, black Wii U, black uPad, HDMI cables, and a uPad cradle, a uPad stand, a Wii U console stand, and a copy of Nintendo's new party-game, Nintendo Land. As for launch titles (feel free to skip to the break if this doesn't interest you) Nintendo has produced Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U, NINJA GAIDEN 3: Razor’s Edge, SiNG PARTY, LEGO City: Undercover, Wii Fit U, Game & Wario, Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 10.  From Activision: 007 Legends (the one Activision game I personally am looking forward to), Call of Duty: Black Ops II, TRANSFORMERS PRIME, Wipeout 3, Skylanders Giants, Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013, and Rapala Pro Bass Fishing. From Capcom we have Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, EA gives us Mass Effect 3 (I was looking for a reason not to buy an Xbox 360), Madden NFL 13, and EA Sports, Fifa Soccer. From Namco Bandai we've got Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition, and TANK! TANK! TANK! (looks cool). SEGA gives us Aliens: Colonial Marines and SEGA & All Stars Racing Transformed. THQ has Darksiders 2, Wheel of Fortune (which might be good on a console for once) and JEOPARDY! (again, the Wii U might make this into a decent game). Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment brings Scribblenauts Unlimited, Game Party Champions, and of course Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition the to table. Ubisoft is releasing Assassain's Creed III, Just Dance 4, ZombieU (a survival horror game with a few interesting features to it), Rabbids Land, Rayman Legends, Sports Connection, Marvel Avengers, Battle for Earth, and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013. Disney Interactive brings just one title, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two to launch. Frozenbyte brings Trine 2: Director’s Cut. Gaijin Games has Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. Majesco Entertainment  launches with Zumba Fitness Core. Maximum Games brings Jett Tailfin to the table. Shin’en is releasing Nano Assault Neo. Tecmo Koei America Corporation has WARRIORS OROCHI 3 Hyper. D3Publisher(that's their official name) is releasing Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game, Ben 10: Omniverse and Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade. 505 Games has Funky Barn(yeah, funky BARN, not Bam).Two Tribe is releasing Toki Tori 2  and finally 2K Sports is publishing NBA 2K13.




 No word from Bethesda about the rumored Skyrim port to the Wii U yet, it might come out sometime later. Anyways, unlike Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo has a new home console ready for launch, and it's got all kinds of cool games for it. Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3 are aging, no accessory or upgrade to the existing consoles can change the fact that they've got a small window of time to get their new consoles out before they lose their fanbase to Wii U remakes and exclusives of their favorite games. Kinect and Slim 360s won't change the hardware's age, nor will PSMove and Slim PS3s change that Nintendo is releasing a console with near universality, you can use a flash drive, USB hard disk, SD card or (as far as i know) standard SATA drives on it. Granted the PS3 and Xbox 360 let you use USB storage devices, but not USB HDDs. The services bundled include Nintendo TVii, which allows Wii U owners to surf through all kinds of input. TiVo, live TV, Netflix, etc without needing to go through a lot of trouble to do so. I hope they're telling the truth because I hate the Netflix interface on the Wii.

So, diehard Zelda fans, when is the Wii U Zelda coming out? Nintendo says 2013 or 2014, they're not sure. I just hope they use the full potential of the console for it. For Star Fox, Metroid, Fire Emblem and Kirby fans I have no news, not even a theory on the year of the next game for each of them. As for the new Super Smash Bros. it's been confirmed that it will span the 3DS and Wii U consoles in a format that can hopefully be linked together.
Sooo, the cost of an extra uPad? No news from either Nintendo or Gamestop on that. Presumably it will be quite expensive for another, and I'm not sure if the benefit of another uPad will justify framerate drop and cost. My advice is to get the....
OK, I do have some news, according to Kotaku "A controller, at ¥13440, converts to USD$172"
That's freakin' INSANE! do yourselves a favor, get the Wii U Pro Controller, it costs less than the uPad, a good deal less in fact, at only 5040 Yen it converts to about 65 USD, not much more than an Xbox 360 controller.
Would I recommend it? Wait until I get my hands on one and I'll answer that question.